The parallax scrolling in Bucky O'Hare is pretty impressive for a NES game:
https://youtu.be/dWHPNnrTmKs?t=1464
https://youtu.be/dWHPNnrTmKs?t=1464
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Let us compile a list of the best looking & animating NES and Master System games
- Thread starter Tizoc
- Start date
Battletoad NES is the best exemple of game make by demomaker
2 planes multidirectionnal scrolling with realtime vertical/horizontal tiles shift.
Line-scroll for 3D effect
Parallax scrolling + raster effect
Big dynamic object (and without black bakground)
Rotation effect
Sprite occlusion effect and background animation.
Vertical parallax scrolling + realtime tilted rop building
All this with two players simultaneously with big sprite and complex animation. And a very high ROM bytes optimisation with the worst NES mapper ever. Perfect code job.
2 planes multidirectionnal scrolling with realtime vertical/horizontal tiles shift.
Line-scroll for 3D effect
Parallax scrolling + raster effect
Big dynamic object (and without black bakground)
Rotation effect
Sprite occlusion effect and background animation.
Vertical parallax scrolling + realtime tilted rop building
All this with two players simultaneously with big sprite and complex animation. And a very high ROM bytes optimisation with the worst NES mapper ever. Perfect code job.
Don't forget that the player sprites are made out of 2 separate sprite layers as well to increase their color count (that rhino enemy on the rotation effect gif is usually how standard NES sprites look). Battletoads is probably Rare's greatest technical achievement. None of what they made on subsequent hardware seemed quite as impressive in comparison.
Save for overdetailed brick wall texures in Perfect Dark Zero.
Save for overdetailed brick wall texures in Perfect Dark Zero.
Woody Invincible
Banned
Thanks for that. Explanations of technical achievements is very much appreciated.
I always thought that Kirby Adventures looked like a gbc port. /shrug
Infernal Monkey
Member
Yep, same game. The Game Gear version has much better colours on-screen, but like Sonic 2 it's waaaaay more frustrating than the Master System because of how zoomed in everything is. There are some levels where dinosaurs pop out of the bushes and you get like absolutely no time to react on Game Gear.
Master System
Game Gear
... Game Gear version also replaced Alan Grant's sprite with some generic soldier for whatever reason. =x
But yeah, really solid platformer. And a fantastic soundtrack, especially the intro.
yes i forget this important detail. 2 big sprites players with 2 layers each for perfect 6 colors sprites (NES is limited at 3 colors sprite).
The game load lot of tiles in CHR-RAM every frame (for sprite players and background). it's very challenging with the very short Vblank of the NES (just 20 lines versus 70 on Master System). It's for that you have black strip on the top of the screen (with variable size) for extend Vblank time manually (tricky) and all this (and raster effect) always without scanline counter because very poor mapper in the cartridge.
cireza
Member
Lost World on GG makes a great use of the color palette from the console.Yep, same game. The Game Gear version has much better colours on-screen, but like Sonic 2 it's waaaaay more frustrating than the Master System because of how zoomed in everything is. There are some levels where dinosaurs pop out of the bushes and you get like absolutely no time to react on Game Gear.
Master System
Game Gear
... Game Gear version also replaced Alan Grant's sprite with some generic soldier for whatever reason. =x
But yeah, really solid platformer. And a fantastic soundtrack, especially the intro.
The GG had 4096 colors after all, so I don't think we should compare it to NES and MS. I mean, even the Genesis only has 512 colors... Many games on GG have much better color gradients than Genesis.
It absolutely should count because it is the same hardware as the master system. The sole difference in hardware is that the CRAM in the SMS is 32 bytes long (16 Word). The Game Gear CRAM is 64 bytes (32 word). Other than that, the hardware is identical.
The game gear is still limited to 32 colors on screen at once without loading another paletter in hblank. In fact, many game gear games are straight up the exact same thing as the sms versions. I mean that literally, they are running full resolution with the original color palette present. You can take the gg rom for games like castle of illusion and run it on the master system without doing any work.
TheMoon
Member
Battletoad NES is the best exemple of game make by demomaker
Rotation effect
All this with two players simultaneously with big sprite and complex animation. And a very high ROM bytes optimisation with the worst NES mapper ever. Perfect code job.
Had a real jaw-drop moment when I first played Kirby's Adventure and saw this in effect.
This is tangential but I have an aversion to NES/Master System games with either black or dark blue backgrounds.
I realize that it's just easier to make graphics pop with a limited color palette if you have either of those two colors, but a combination of being a kid, being afraid of the dark and being unable to finish too many of those games left a lasting impression that still has impact decades later. D:
I realize that it's just easier to make graphics pop with a limited color palette if you have either of those two colors, but a combination of being a kid, being afraid of the dark and being unable to finish too many of those games left a lasting impression that still has impact decades later. D:
Yes and there is comic case like Space Harrier. The GG version have an adapted HUD but you always can see the Master System HUD outside the visible screen space of the GG (with emulator).
And they have just shift the originals palettes (2bit(x3) shift to 4bit(x3), binary 11 become 1100 ), very bad conversion method because 100% brigthness color become 80% with this basic shift and it's consume more battery for obtain the same brightness on the LCD screen. Wast of energy on a GG is a big fail.
Tizoc
Member
Battletoad NES is the best exemple of game make by demomaker
2 planes multidirectionnal scrolling with realtime vertical/horizontal tiles shift.
Line-scroll for 3D effect
Parallax scrolling + raster effect
Big dynamic object (and without black bakground)
Rotation effect
Sprite occlusion effect and background animation.
Vertical parallax scrolling + realtime tilted rop building
All this with two players simultaneously with big sprite and complex animation. And a very high ROM bytes optimisation with the worst NES mapper ever. Perfect code job.
It's a shame that such a wonderfully animated game have such abysmal gameplay @_@
Ruud_Luiten
Member
Except for Shing force 2 and tails these games are released on sega Master Sysyem!
Had a real jaw-drop moment when I first played Kirby's Adventure and saw this in effect.
in Battletoads two years before
This isnt what I am talking about in the case of castle of illusion, though. You are talking about a game running at a decreased resolution with parts of the display being drawn past the visible screen. Which is indeed funny.
I'm talking about games that straight up use the full screen 240x224 resolution and rely on the game gear lcd's real time 3:2 pulldown to outright scale the image.
Example from real hardware:
Mickey mouse on a game gear, outputting to a tv before hitting the lcd.
By contrast, a game gear game that runs at native resolution (and thus ignores much of the frame because its pointless).
Space harrier is the latter, but plenty of games are the former.
No they didnt
There is no official sms port of ristar, gunstar heroes, gg alsste II, sonic triple trouble or tempo jr. Only rom hacks created within the last few years.
yes the second gif is the single Battletoads 2 gif
Well, it's not like it's a "bad" game in the sense that it has poor controls and stuff. The core gameplay is good and the game feels nice to play. The difficulty is just punishing to a downright absurd degree with zero margin for error. I saw someone play through the game with in-depth knowledge of every stage and he had to use exploits to boost his amount of extra lives.
MegaManTrigger
Banned
Calm down, it was an oversight on my behalf, and I apologize for that. I didn't pick this to show off any gif-making skills. I choose it because of how detailed the boss sprite is.
Tizoc
Member
Heh I was mostly messing with you mate, if you atleast put the game's title in spoilers that'd be fine ;P
Dangerblade
Member
Some of the gift in here have genuinely blown me away. Some of this stuff on 30 year old technology!
